Far-left New York City councilman Chi Ossé filed paperwork Monday to challenge House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his deep-blue Brooklyn seat.
Ossé, a 27 year-old democratic socialist who was an early supporter of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, is launching an insurgent primary campaign against Jeffries over the explicit opposition of the mayor-elect and national Democrats. The primary battle between Ossé and Jeffries threatens to pit the Democratic Party’s establishment against its far-left flank while forcing the lead House Democrat to shore up support at home instead of focusing on retaking the majority during next year’s midterm elections.
“The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against [President] Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in,” Ossé said in a statement obtained by Axios.
Ossé has flirted with a primary run against Jeffries for weeks following Mamdani’s rapid ascension to New York City’s top political office. Mamdani, however, has reportedly privately urged his ideological compatriot to pass on a primary challenge despite the duo both belonging to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Mamdani wants to avoid another high-profile leftist primary challenge and is concerned that Ossé’s primary challenge could damage his relationship with the party’s establishment to push through his agenda once sworn into office, according to multiple reports.
Ossé is an openly gay black man and grew up practicing a Japanese sect of Buddhism. Jeffries, 55, is a member of a black Baptist church and is seen as more aligned with the older, more conservative black population in his Democratic-heavy district.